The donations boost comes as a possible election nears

Donations to the Tories nearly doubled in the last three months of 2003 - and almost all of them came after Iain Duncan Smith was ousted as leader.

The figures show donations to Labour also almost doubled in the last part of 2003 against the previous three months.

And the amount pledged to the Liberal Democrats was also on the up.

Novelist's gift

Excluding money from public funds, the Tories received �1.9m in the last quarter of last year - more than double the amount netted in the previous quarter, says the Electoral Commission.

Only 21 donations were accepted in the five weeks before 6 November - the day Mr Howard took over as Tory leader. That compared to 171 donations after the leadership switch.

Criticisms from big donors were one of the problems Mr Duncan Smith faced during his final weeks at the party helm.

Among the donors were betting tycoon Stuart Wheeler, who gave �500,000, and Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth, who gave �44,000.

'New energy'

Mr Wheeler said: "Michael Howard has done very well and got across the main message about giving people more choice.

"He has streamlined the organisation so that there is a smaller shadow cabinet and fewer departments at Central Office. In short, he has re-energised the party and boosted confidence and morale considerably."

Labour donations rose to �4.1m, up from �2.26m in the previous quarter.

The biggest single gift to the party was the �1m from arts philanthropist Christopher Ondaatje.

As a possible general election date nears, the Liberal Democrats received �448,156 in private donations - up on the �297,911 they accepted in the third quarter of 2003.